Beauty of the Cross

Beauty of the Cross

by | Jun 19, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“Oh wondrous love that called me out by name 
The one who made it all died to make a way
And every earthly gain I will count as loss 
I am redeemed, that’s the beauty of the cross” 

Beauty of the Cross, The Prestonwood Choir 

“ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 

1 Corinthians 1:18, NIV 

Jesus came to die so that we might live. 

It is easy for us to get sidetracked by the complexities of Scripture, End-Time thinking, promises of prosperity and the more mystical aspects of our Christian walk. While all of these things are important to consider it means absolutely nothing without a basic, foundational understanding of the Cross of Jesus Christ. 

We were lost to sin. We were counted as casualties of our own transgressions. We were distant and far away from God our Creator. 

Some of us still are. As much as we pray, prophesy or cast out demons – as much as we prosper in the Name of Jesus – many of us are still not truly rooted in Jesus. 

Jesus said the following: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practise lawlessness!’ 

The fruit of our Christian walk is not measured by the practice of power – even heathens and unbelievers can cast out demons – but the one thing they cannot do is give you Jesus to fill the gap left behind. 

Even unbelievers can ‘prophesy’ – but the Spirit of true prophecy is the Testimony of Jesus. 

Even unbelievers can prosper – the Bible teaches us this – but only a proper understanding of Christ and His Cross can give you true prosperity: the shalom of God, contentment in every circumstance and situation. 

We have in many ways been measuring our fruit according to the wisdom of this world – but the wisdom of this world is foolishness. 

The Cross offers us a paradigm shift – a change of perspective. We now count the world and its wealth, earthly gain and esteem as loss. 

The Cross of Christ offers us the opportunity to crucify the flesh, die to self and the world, sin and unrighteousness – and gives us new life as we stand up in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.  

You are called out by name! Called out of the grave of your transgressions – by name! Called out of the grave of spiritual loneliness and poverty – by name! 

When you were in darkness God saw you. God loved you! 

The fruit of our Christian walk is not measured in power, but in presence – the presence of God in your life. The presence of His peace, His love, His mercy, His grace, His capacity for forgiveness – the presence of the fruit of His Spirit in our lives – that is how we measure our spiritual growth.  

We do not measure the fruit of our Christian walk by our capacity to own – but in our capacity to give away without expecting returns and without agenda – our finances, our resources, our time, our love – sacrifice is the operative word! 

The grave is a solitary place – we put our dead in a coffin in the ground – there is no community. Jesus calls us out of the solitary and lonely graves of our selfishness into life – into community and fellowship – we measure the fruit of our Christian walk by looking at our selflessness. We do not measure our Christian walk by what or who we are but rather by what and who we are not – by what and who Christ is in and through us. The goal of the Christian life is to become less so that He might become more – so that we might be conformed in every way to Jesus.  

We strive for righteousness and holiness. We avoid sin like the plague. We keep our garments clean. We tend to the garden of our Christian walk through prayer, meditation and study, fellowship and community. We reach out to others with the same Hand that Jesus extended – love and mercy, goodness and grace.

The Christian walk is not about the practice of power – but the power of Christ in us is the practice of His Presence in a world that does not know Him.

Let us die to self so that others might find life in Jesus.

Prayer: Lord, let me become less so that You might become more. Help me die to self so that You might reign and rule in me. Show me the areas of my life that need to be surrendered for You to increase. Help me pursue presence more than power – Your presence in and through me. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Sing We The Song of Emmanuel

Sing We The Song of Emmanuel

by | May 27, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“Go spread the news of Emmanuel
Joy and peace for the weary heart
Lift up your heads, for your King has come
Sing for the Light overwhelms the dark
Glory shining for all to see
Hope alive, let the gospel ring
God has made a way, He will have the praise
Tell the world His name is Jesus”

Sing We The Song of Emmanuel, Stuart Townend

Jesus said to his followers, “Go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone.”

Mark 16:15, NCV

I remember, as a teenager, long before the internet served to satisfy our music listening needs – before YouTube, Shazam and Spotify even existed – you would dedicate some very real time and resources to finding and owning copies of the music you liked. Sometimes it would take some very real effort tracking down a particular album, or even just the single.

Sometimes you wouldn’t even have the name of the song or the artist you were looking for, except for a vague description of whatever you could remember of its content or composition.

And so it is with the Gospel.

Deep down the world knows that there is something missing – deep down the world knows that it is looking to fill a gigantic God shaped-hole – but they don’t know The Name.

They only have the vaguest descriptions of what they are looking for – hope, healing, restoration, redemption, salvation, freedom… But they don’t know The Name.

Sometimes you would get lucky and would hear someone playing the song that eluded you, perhaps it would be playing on your local radio station and the DJ would mention the name and artist. Other times you could ask a friend or a friendly shop assistant and find what you were looking for.

Jesus made it very clear that, along with the power of His Kingdom, there was also a great responsibility on the part of every believer to go into the world and preach the Gospel.

The love of Christ compels us to go seeking after the sinner – to proclaim the good news of the Gospel, proclaiming freedom to the slave and liberty to the captive.

Once you have found the Song superior to all songs you cannot help but share it with the world.

The love of Christ compels us to sing the Song of Emmanuel – loud and from every rooftop.

Once you have heard that secret, sacred Song, emanating from God’s heart to yours, you can’t help but be transformed as it fills every nook and cranny of your soul, bouncing off every wall, and echoing in the deepest depths of your being – “Jesus loves me!”

Just like any good song gets stuck in your head, begging to be sung or hummed, how much more the Song of our Savior – it compels us to sing! As it floods our hearts and lives with the goodness of God it cannot help but overflow out into the world around us.

Jesus commissioned us to go and preach the Gospel to every creature – to share the Good News with the world… to go forth and sing the Song of Emmanuel, to let the Gospel ring, His glory shining for all to see!

The world knows it is missing something – it tries so hard to fill that hole with sex, drugs and rock’n’roll… With philosophy, politics and any number of other things…

They know they are looking for something… but they don’t know The Name.

Sing we the song of Emmanuel?

Prayer: Lord, let my every step and my every breath sing the Song of Your love and mercy. Let my heart be in tune with the Song of Heaven – the story of Your mercy and grace here in our midst. Let me be Your witness, let the Gospel ring and resonate in and through my life – and may the broken and the lost find what they are looking for through the word of my testimony and Your Spirit living and active in me. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Spirit of God: Paraklétos

Spirit of God: Paraklétos

by | May 10, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“We thirst for Your presence
Send down Your rain
Here in this moment, a holy embrace”

Spirit of God, Phil Wickham

“15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”

John 14:15-18, NKJV

What a powerful thought: “I will not leave you orphans; I (ME, MYSELF – Jesus) will come to you.”

The Holy Spirit is Jesus alive in us.

Jesus says, comforting the disciples, that the Father will send another Helper. The word Helper here is translated from the Greek ‘paraklétos’ which can also be translated as ‘advocate’ or ‘attorney’.

An advocate presents evidence.

There have been many ‘helpers’ from the Old Testament to the New – evidence of God’s presence in the world. In the Old Testament God would appear to Abraham (Gen 18:1-15), Jacob (Gen 32:24-30), and Manoah and his wife (Judges 13) and Joshua (Joshua 5:13-15). He would appear to Moses and speak from within a burning bush (Exodus 3:2-10). The Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, would see Him as the Fourth Man in the Fire (Daniel 3:16-28) – and all of Israel would see Him as a Pillar of Cloud and Fire  (Exodus 13).

Besides these ‘theophanies’ there were of course also dreams, visions, prophecies, miracles, signs and wonders – other visible manifestations of God’s glory and presence.

In the New Testament God Himself steps down from His throne in Heaven to walk in our midst – the ‘paraklétos’ in flesh and bone. Evidence of God With Us. 

In talking about the Holy Spirit Jesus talks about yet another ‘paraklétos’ – and insists “I will come to you.”

A common misconception, especially in our South African context, is that the Holy Spirit is somehow a different being altogether – completely distinct from Jesus. Biblically we should understand that there is only One seated upon the Throne – and He is the same One enthroned within our hearts, seated there through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. 

Jesus was the ‘paraklétos’ – providing evidence of God WITH us.

The Holy Spirit is the ‘paraklétos’ – providing evidence of the same God IN us.

The Holy Spirit is Jesus alive in us.

The proof of His presence. The Holy Spirit is our comforter in times of sorrow, His presence is a balm to the broken heart. 

He is our guide, helping us navigate the storms of life by reminding us of His Word and making it come alive in us. 

If Jesus was, while walking the Earth, the embrace of God made flesh – then the Holy Spirit is the very breath of God breathed into our lungs, the resurrection power of God in our lives.

The Holy Spirit is the resurrection power of God – working not only in us but also through us. In understanding the Holy Spirit correctly, as the Spirit of Jesus – the Spirit of the Living God – in understanding the Oneness of the Godhood and our communion with Him through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, our understanding of our Kingdom purpose is not only enlarged but also becomes more practical.

If the Holy Spirit is Jesus alive in us – the presence of God living and active in our hearts – then the next step is Jesus alive THROUGH us as we become His hands and feet, the tangible evidence of His presence in the world around us.

The Holy Spirit is the ‘paraklétos’ – providing evidence of God IN us but also becomes the ‘paraklétos’ – providing evidence of the same God THROUGH us as His hands and feet, all the more visible as we become more and more conformed to the image of Christ:

“18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Through His presence IN us we become His presence IN the world.

Prayer: Lord, as I contemplate Your glory, transform me ever more into what You would have me be. Let me do, all the more, what You would have me do. Through Your Holy Spirit, Lord, empower me to be Your presence in a broken world, Your light in the darkness – so that others might see You in me and through me. Come breathe in me and through me, O Lord. Let Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, here in our hearts and lives. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Come All Ye Unfaithful

Come All Ye Unfaithful

by | May 9, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“O come, all you unfaithful
Come, weak and unstable
Come, know you are not alone
O come, barren and waiting ones
Weary of praying, come
See what your God has done”

O Come All Ye Unfaithful, Sovereign Grace Music

“Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Luke 15:1-2, NKJV

The word ‘prodigal’ is defined as being wasteful.

In Luke 15 the Pharisees and the scribes – the religious folk of the day – complain about Jesus receiving and eating with the undesirables of their society.

“This Man receives sinners and eats with them…”

Jesus responds with a series of three parables.

The first is the story of a shepherd who loses a sheep and leaves the 99 to go find the one. When he finds his lost sheep he calls his friends and family and they all rejoice together.

The second is the story of a woman who loses a gold coin. When she finds it she calls her friends and family and they rejoice together.

The third is probably one of the most misunderstood of the three stories that Jesus tells. We get distracted by the sin and shortcoming of the young man who squanders his inheritance – and ignore the purpose of the story altogether.

It is the story of a father who loses a son – and when the son returns the father calls his friends and family together so that they may rejoice, but the eldest brother, who had stayed behind is upset.

He says to his father: ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ (Luke 15:29-30, NKJV)

The first two stories end with a similar refrain – the thought that when a sinner comes home all of Heaven rejoices.

The story of the prodigal son does not have this refrain.

The eldest son in this case is just as ‘prodigal’ as the one who had left. He represents the Pharisees and the scribes.

Many in the church today are represented by the eldest son. There is no love for the sinner, the backslider, the addict, the prostitute…

But Jesus is married to the backslider (Jeremiah 3:14-15). He desires their return to the fold.

Shall we then, as the hands and the feet of the Father, refuse to seek them out? Shall we then, as the hands and feet of Jesus and agents of His grace, refuse to welcome them with open arms?

Are we perhaps the prodigal eldest son – wasting God’s grace by keeping it for ourselves, stashed away somewhere on a shelf – or are we sharing the joy unspeakable and full of glory, the hope of a restored life and eternal communion with Christ with our struggling brothers and sisters?

The church squanders its inheritance by receiving the grace that saves but refusing to become conformed to the image of Christ.

Both sons are the ‘prodigal son’, but only one ever gets restored in the parable. The one who had left and come back broken, empty, weary and burdened. The son who had been in his father’s house had absolutely no idea how far he had fallen and how wasteful he was being.

And so it is with the church. The parable of the prodigal son is a call to introspection. Is our judgement of others preventing us from seeking them out, welcoming them and loving them as Christ would have us do?

The father answers the eldest son with these words: ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ (Luke 15:31-31, NKJV)

Let us go then and receive the sinner, break bread with them, welcome them home. Even if they fall a thousand times, let us be there, willing like our Father in Heaven, to forgive, to love and to help them back up – as many times as it might take.

If you are perhaps more like the younger son today – the one who left and devoured his livelihood with harlots – consumed by the idolatry of sin and carnality – weak, unstable, barren, unfaithful – Jesus is calling you home!

Addicted, tired, bitter, guilty, fearful – Jesus is calling you!

And you don’t have to do it alone. No matter where you are in the world, reach out. Send me a message or an email (andre@adlabuschagne.co.za). We want to journey with you. You are not alone.

Prayer: Lord, help me be more like You. Break my heart for what breaks Yours and open my eyes so that I can see what You see. Help me love my neighbor. Help me love the sinner. Help me love the backslider. Give me the desire to see them saved. Equip me, Lord, through Your Spirit to reach out and call them back home. Equip me through Your Spirit, Lord, with the necessary grace to guide them, to make disciples and above all to help them back up when the slip, slide or fall. Help me stay true to Your Word and Your Will as I strive to be more like You. In Jesus Mighty Name. Amen.

Thank You Jesus For The Blood

Thank You Jesus For The Blood

by | May 1, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“Thank you Jesus for the blood applied
Thank you Jesus, it has washed me white
Thank you Jesus, You have saved my life
Brought me from the darkness into glorious light”

Thank You Jesus for the Blood, Charity Gayle

“9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”

1 Peter 2:9-10, NKJV

Fruit grows in the valley.

I heard a while ago – although I can’t remember where – that fruit grows in the valley and not on the mountain top.

As Christians we often equate success with being on the mountain, where God is. Like Moses, we are always climbing Mount Sinai in the hopes of an encounter with God. 

Unlike Moses, very few of us want to go back down to share what God gives on the mountain.

In just a few chapters in Exodus (from 19-34) Moses makes his way up and down the mountain 7 times.

Each time God gives him something to share with the Israelites down in the valley.

How tempting it must have been during those 40 days with God in Exodus 34 to just pitch a tent and stay there in the glory and the presence of the Lord – but Moses knew and felt the burden of his people and knew that there was work to be done.

In Exodus 34, after a particularly glorious encounter with God, Moses’ face radiated with the Glory of God – so much so that he had to wear a veil and cover it up – as the people were filled with awe and fear.

For many of them, coming out of a place of idolatry, seeing God upon this man’s face must have been a thing of awe-inspiring beauty – as Moses brought the light from God’s Kingdom down to the valley of the idols.

And in time this would yield much fruit – his exercise of running up and down that mountain would sow the seeds of a mighty ministry.

Fruit trees need light to grow. In the valley of ‘civilization’ we find that there are idols, ideals and ideas that have often grown to overshadow what the Lord would want as a plantation for Himself.

Just like Moses – we cannot pitch a tent in the Mountain of  the Glory of the Lord and stay there – there is work to be done in the valley. 

I find it too often in churches, especially those run by ‘prophets’ and ‘apostles’, or other silly charismatic titles – that their congregations get a taste of the mountain life and start believing that they have made it, that they are somehow better off than those in the valley below. Growing fat on the bread instead of distributing it freely.

It is important to understand that if you fall into this category you will bear very little fruit for the Kingdom.  

In this current age we find ourselves in we don’t think much about mountains and valleys. I don’t have to climb a mountain to encounter God. The most I need to climb are some stairs. And we climb those stairs often. Some of us even have our own dedicated seats based on how dedicated or important we might be. 

We go to our churches – such beautiful mountains – and we hear from God, and perhaps even enjoy a cup of tea afterwards. We have made it…

But what are we taking out of that meeting – what are we taking back into the streets – the valley’s of our neighborhoods? What light do we bring to the valleys of addiction and unemployment, homelessness and abuse? What radiance? What joy? What love? What hope?

Where are we producing our fruit? When our neighbor is yet to see His glory, is it clear upon your face? Or are we too busy arguing about the karaoke that went a little loud last night? Or a parking space? 

We were called out of darkness into His light – to be transformed, ignited and lit up as torches – to go back into the darkness and make a difference.

Moses went up the mountain to be transformed, ignited and lit up as a torch so that he could go back down and make a difference.

God gives us each a garden to tend – a personal mission field – and one of the responsibilities given to us is to make sure that the garden gets enough light.

Are you helping your garden grow? Are you showing it enough light? Or are you leaving it in the sanctuary, in a box under your reserved seat.

It is time we take our testimonies back into the world.

Prayer: Oh, Lord, let us not be selfish with the grace you have poured out upon us. Let it be our desire to go back to the ‘undesirables’ still stuck in the darkness of our past – carrying your light with us so that they might catch a glimpse of who You are. Let us tend, diligently and ardently, the garden given to us. In Jesus Name. Amen